Hi everyone, This is my first post on Discovery-it community. On this occasion, I would like to share my experience during conducting a coral reef survey several years ago in Meulingge, a village located in Breuh Island, Aceh Besar District, Aceh Province - Indonesia.
At that time, we were staying near the port located on Breuh Island. To reach the survey site, we went to the beach which is located in the village of Meulingge using a pickup that also bring our survey gear. After arriving at the beach, we are unloading the gear and continued our trip using a local boat.
This location has been surveyed before but by a different team several years before we conducted the same survey. Our team at that time was different from the previous team, so we had to use GPS to reach the location precisely. The weather on that day was very fine, the sun shining brightly and the waters were very calm.
After arriving at the survey location, the team prepared all gear that will be used to conduct the coral reef survey and start the descend as everything has been set up. There are 2 people doing the dives. 1 person collected data on the type, number, and size of reef fish around the transect and another person was me who was in charge of collecting data on the type of growth and names of corals under the transect that had been laid out.
This location is one of the places with the best coral cover I have come across. Based on the survey results, I found that the coral cover in the area was more than 80% and was dominated by Montipora foliose coral. The original condition of this location is excellent. However, due to the limitations of the camera we were using at the time (Go Pro 5), the results from the images that had been documented were less than optimal. However, here I present some of the best documentation that I have sorted out that describes the condition of coral reefs in the area. Hope you guys enjoy It! See you on another post everyone